Tile.



WILLIAM PASSMORE MEEKER, OF NEI/VARK, NEW JERSEY.

TILE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 522, 1905.,

Application filed November 23, 1903. Serial No, 182,242.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM PASSM'ORE MEEKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tiles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to facing-tiles which are provided with undercut or overlapped portions on their backs to lock them securely into the cement with which they are set; and my improvements consist in certain particulars whereby the tile is made stronger and more durable and the flanges or overlapped portions less liable to fracture and breakage and the consequent loosening of the tile from its setting.

In making my improved tile I prefer to use a process which I have made the subject of a separate application for a patent. In that process I form the tile by compressingmelted vitreous material in a die so as form a raised portion or portions or ribs upon the back of the tile or to produce depressions therein, and then the surface of the material being slightly cooled and hardened the raised portions or edges of the depressions are upset or forced in to form an overlapping or undercut looking portion on the back of the tile. The looking portions of the tiles thus produced havean added strength and toughness imparted to them by this process, as I will now proceed to point out and explain, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings of tiles embodying my invention, and in which* Figure 1 is a back view of a tile after the first step of the process. Fig. 2 is an edge View of the same looking-up. Fig. 3 is asimilar View of a tileafter the bending-over step of the process. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View of the same, taken on the line of Fig. 5, which is a back view of a completed tile.

The same reference-letters designate the same parts in all the figures.

When the melted vitreous material for forming the tile is pressed into the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the flanges or ribs (0 a being raised above the body A of the tile will cool and harden more rapidly than the body A, and this is particularly so at the upper edges of the ribs, which quickly become hard enough to substantially keep their form during the bending overof the ribs. Pressure now being applied to the ribs as they are upset toward the lntervening groove, they are forced downward and outward at the lower angles 7) 72, causing the material to double upon itself in a loop-like form, as shown at n a in Fig. 4, while at the same time the back of the ribs at (Z (Z being pressed downward compresses the substance of the ribs, driving it down and toward the angles between the bottom of the groove and the sides of the ribs and welding the material into a dense and tenacious mass, with its grain disposed in the form of flattened loops slanting downward and outward from the lower angles of the groove. In tiles of this class, which are intended to be firmly held in place by the cement upon which they are set spreading into the angles of the undercut groove or depression, it is important that the overhanging rib or flange should be as strong as possible, for while a small amount of fracturing at the edge of the flange might not be serious it is obvious that if the flange should split or break away from the bottom of the groove or fracture transverse] y the cement would lose its locking-grip on the tile; but in my improved tile the grain of the material is disposed in a compressed loop-like form extending from the edge of the flange down into the body of the tile, and as thus disposed it presents its greatest resistance to any lateral strain upon the flange, while the material at the junction of the flanges with the groove being similarly disposed and compressed presents an increased resistance to any tendency to fracture in that part of the tile. Moreover, the bending over and compression of the ribs or flanges produces a drooping of the edges of the groove at the angles of junction between the bottom and sides, as indicated at t' '23, which gives the cement an additional grip under the sides of v the groove. The central portions of the edges of the groove are preferably pressed farther down and in than the ends, thus producing the downward and lateral curves shown at s s in Figs. 3, 4c, and 5 and giving a form of groove which will both compress the cement within it when the tile with the wide end of the groove forward is slid laterally into position and will also look upon the hardened cement, so as to prevent displacement even in the reversed direction. This increased de pression of the flanges toward the center of the tile also has the effect of producing a groove which flares in both directions, so that there will be a compression or jamming of the cement in the groove even if the narrower end of the groove is forward when the tile is set, and because of the peculiar form of the groove the tile will lock on the cement whichever end of the groove is forward. This setting of the tile is also facilitated by the fact that the raised portions of the tile taper in both directions, the undercut portions presenting a Wedging or gripping undercut from either end. This locking is also assisted by the disk-like elevation t, which projects slightly above the hexagonal corners of the tile, allowing space for the cement to enter and form a lateral support around the back of the tile. It will be understood that the form of the overhanging portions of my tile may be modified without departing from the substance of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess, with curved sides, flaring in two directions.

2. A tile provided upon its back with a raised portion having an undercut edge and tapering in two directions.

3. A tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess With centrally-depressed sides.

4. A tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess with centrally-depressed, curved sides.

5. A .tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess, with centrally-depressed; curved sides, flaring'in twodirections.

6. A tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess having depressed interior angles.

7. A tile provided upon its back with an undercut groove or recess with depressed interior angles and centrally-depressed sides.

WM. PASSMORE MEEKER. /Vitnesses:

l/VM. D. NEILLEY, WILLIAM H. MoHR. 

